In his famous Robbers Cave experiment, Muzafer Sherif invited two groups of boys at a summer camp to engage in a sports tournament for valued prizes. As he predicted, the tournament led to serious animosity between the two groups and ultimately to a condition resembling inter-tribal warfare. How did this happen?

Monk, peace activist and author Thich Naht Hanh has long written that mindfulness can make for a more peaceful and contented existence. But did you know that it can make for better, more pleasurable, sex?

You have heard of the ‘Zone'. It is the special place where athletes dwell when they are living their flow. It is a place of such joy that, once there, the dweller wishes to return again and again. Is it possible for anyone to experience this timeless state of true bliss? Indeed, it is. To embrace a positive relationship with time, I would even argue that inducing the Zone is essential.

If you told a boy that he had to make a gift for someone he loved out of rotting fruit, hairpins, and cheesecloth, he might find the concept intriguing-think of the possibilities in terms of making a mess, after all--but when he discovered that the process involved the systematic implantation of hundreds of cloves, he would plead his case to child protective services.

The holidays can usher in an emotional tug of war-between happy childhood memories and not-so-happy adult tensions. For many, the disconnect between how the holidays felt then and how they feel now can lead to cynicism and even depression. Perhaps when you were a child, your family's festive celebrations, special meals and treats, and brightly wrapped packages made you believe in the magic of the season.

In medical toxicology referrals, I regularly encounter patients who are worried about an environmental overexposure because a test battery of multiple substances showed one or another elevation. Typically the test was ordered with no specific toxin in mind, but rather as part of a "shot-gun" approach to making a diagnosis - not usually a good idea, as watching any episode of House will make clear. One of the environmental tests most likely to go awry is a hair analysis for metal toxins.

When we put off a task until tomorrow, we often have this naïve view about tomorrow as a "blank slate." We believe and act as if we have the whole day open to us. Usually, this is far from the truth. How can we plan our goal pursuit more realistically and effectively?

Think happy thoughts is common wisdom that many people rely on for getting through feelings of depression, and painful or difficult situations. Often, people try to be happy when they're not; hoping that they will become the happy person they're impersonating.

Science is a cumulative enterprise. Each generation of scientists creates new knowledge, not from scratch all by itself, but by building on the knowledge created and accumulated by previous generations of scientists.